Rebuilding My World
by Sidney Ella Ford
Summary: Percy and Annabeth starting in the summer after The Last Olympian. Companion series to Understandings. Annabeth's point of view as she and Percy rebuild Olympus and Camp Half Blood and spend their first summer as a couple.


**So my first PJO series. I have a one-shot that this is kind of the companion to. I would suggest reading it, to understand this just a little better. It's called Understandings. Well, read on, and please don't be mean to me. Rick Riordan owns.**

Pencil to paper, pencil to hand, smooth lines that flow so beautifully across the white plane. Nothing is in my way, nothing can stop me, the world is at my fingertips. A leaf fell onto my page, but his fingers plucked it away. A lock of hair fell into my vision, and his hand stroked it back. He knew, he understood, I coudn't be distracted. I had an important job. My mother entrusted me with this job, a job to rebuid her home, and my own home. I could not fail her. Not after... Well, not after I fell in love with the son Poseidon, Poseidon being her least favorite of relatives. She'd gone ten months without incinerating Percy, but I couldn't test her. I had to prove to her that he only helped me by removing distractions, not becoming one.

After my musings, I observed my rough sketch, then displayed it for him to see. It was an outline of a small palace, most likely to be for a lesser known god or goddess.

"Wow, Annabeth, it's great," he said, observing the drawing with exaggerated curiosity.

I smiled at him, shaking my head. "We've been here all day, we should get back to camp."

His gaze jumped up as he read my face for any hint of humor. "Thank you!"

I laughed and rolled my eyes, then proceeded to find my bag containing the laptop I'd come into ownership of and my many sketch pads, notebooks, and various writing and measuring utinsels. Percy took it from me, shushing me from arguing about it, and took my hand pulling me along. We stopped at the throne room on the way to the exit, releasing each others' hand for good measure.

"Are you kids leaving?" Poseidon asked, smiling at us. It was highly awkward for him to be so familiar with me, even though it was obvious he had no immediate issues with the relationship between his son and myself.

"Yeah, Dad, just saying goodbye," Percy said, nodding to his father.

"Will you be here tomorrow?" my mother asked, walking into the room behind us. Now this was passed highly and all the way to completely awkward.

"We might," I said, carefully avoiding anyone's direct gaze. "Though it's Saturday so if we do come, it won't be for long, if it's okay with you, Mother."

"All is fine, you have been working hard," she said, passing us and turning to me before moving to her thrown. "Goodbye, children."

Percy was tugging me away before I could register that my mother-_my _mother-had actually been in the same room as my boyfriend without threatening him with death by spontaneous combustion. I must have been more tired that I thought, because that had to be a hallucination. The muzak was like an annoying buzzing in the background, and five-hundred floors of it was enough to make a person crazy, so when we arrived at the bottom floor, I was pleased to see the ever-silent Argus was our ride back. He stood silently to the side in the lobby, waiting patiently.

Percy waved at him and led me along, leaning down to whisper in my ear when we passed the main desk. "The mortals must think we're either the youngest business-people or the most abused rich kids in New York."

I laughed and elbowed him, shushing him. "Why do I keep you around?"

"Because I owe you," he said, wrapping an arm around my neck and kissing my head.

I swatted at him, giggling a little. "Let's go, Argus looks impatient."

The ride home was quiet, thank goodness. No annoying instrumental versions of lame pop-songs, no lists in my head for the next day. The weekend was welcomed with open arms.

As soon as we got to Half Blood Hill, one of my little sisters made a beeline for me. At nine years, forty-eight inches tall, and as rambunctious as Grover on coffee, my sister Elizabeth was a miniature of myself. With the grey eyes of our mother, a slight build, and a light tan, the only difference between she and a pre-pubescent version of myself was that she had light brown hair-the only thing she inherited from her own father.

"Bethy!" she said, running up to me and nearly knocking me over in an excited hug. "Bethy, guess what Malcolm showed me today!"

My older brother had taken to teaching Elizabeth new things everyday. Things that she was more than thrilled to show me. I wasn't sure if Malcolm had picked up the hobby to be a good big brother, or to get payback from the many times a young me had overwhelmed him by showing him what Luke taught me. Luke...

Nearly a year had passed since he'd sacrificed his life to save Olympus. Since I'd finally realized and voiced that he was a brother to me, and that I was in love with-

"Percy!" Elizabteh was jumping up and down, trying to get to Percy's level. She, like myself, had taken a liking to him. Minus the attempting to hate him. And falling for him. I hoped.

"Hey, Lizzy, how about you show me what you learned so Annabeth can go put her things away?" Percy said, stooping to her level, reaching out to tickle her, making her shriek with laughter. "Huh, huh?"

"Okay!" she chirped excitedly.

He gave stood and gave me my bag, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek, then swung my little sister onto his back, following her orders. I smiled and made my way to my cabin. The owl above the door stared protectively out as I walked into the newly renovated two-story. The once cramped, one roomed building now had four rooms: a library and work room, a room for the children under twelve, a room for the older boys, and a room for the older girls.

I climbed the stairs to my room, entering to see only two of my sisters, eighteen year old twins named Mary and Macy. Mary was sleeping on her small twin bed and Macy was writing a letter to someone. I gave her a little wave before dropping my bag and kicking it under my own small bed before collapsing on it. Soon I was in a limbo between being asleep and being awake. The only sounds were the clicking of the two ceiling fans and the roll of Mary's pen on her stationery.

"Bethy," someone was saying. "Bethy, wake up. It's dinner time."

I sat up slowly, getting a bit of a head rush. "Lizzy?"

"Percy sent me to get you, he said you were sleepy and I needed to wake you up," she explained.

"Okay," I said, standing slowly, then letting her pull me downstairs and outside, where Percy was leaning against the building.

"Sleep well?" he asked, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

"I didn't mean to," I said, rubbing my face.

"You were asleep on your feet," he laughed, squeezing me lightly.

"Percy, Percy, tell Bethy what I can do!" Elizabeth demanded, grabbing his free hand and shaking his arm.

We started walking to the pavilion while Percy animatedly told me about Lizzy's 'sword fighting.' When I cast him a worried glance, he mouthed 'foil' to reassure me that I didn't need to murder Malcolm. The last thing anyone needed was a nine-year-old with the ability to decapitate someone. When we arrived, Lizzy ran off to join a few of my other little siblings, to brag about what she learned, most likely. Percy gave me another swift kiss on the cheek, then went to sit with Tyson at the Poseidon table, while I went to drop down next to Malcolm.

"Are you trying to make me crazy?" I asked him quietly.

"What do you mean," he muttured back, standing up to go to the fire.

I jumped up as well, grabbing a plate and following him. "You know what I mean. Lizzy has been bugging me every day to see what you've taught her."

He scraped some food into the fire and I followed suit, trying to catch what he was saying. "You did it to me."

"I knew that's why you've been doing that!"

"And I love my little sister! Why do you think I put up with you doing it?" he said, rolling his eyes at me.

I glowered at the table. The 'family' card. He knew I hated that. "Well, you hadn't been working for Mother all day and running on about four hours of sleep a night."

He laughed and ruffled my hair. "You were worse than Lizzy, though."

I glared at him and spent the rest of dinner ignoring him.

A time or two Percy caught my eye across the way, making faces or gestures to make me laugh. After dinner, he took me on a walk to the beach. We sat on the sand, burying our toes in the sand, playing with each others' hands. He pulled me to his chest, pulling my head to his shoulder. I ran my fingers lightly up and down his spine, avoiding his Achilles spot, instead, drawing little circles around it. _My _spot, I thought. He'd confessed to me that thinking of me made him strong when he underwent the challenge to become invincible.

"What're you thinking about, Wise Girl?" he asked softly, pulling me back a little to search my face.

"You," I said simply, smiling.

"Good or bad?"

"Good."

He smiled and leaned in to kiss me. Not many more words were exchanged, Percy made sure of that, but that was just fine. We had all the time in the world to for words, but being alone was not something we got often. It was always a treat to not have siblings or parents around to come between us, so we took advantage of that opportunity when it was given.

When he walked me back to my cabin, dancing on thin ice by being out at two minutes to curfew, he gave me a goodnight kiss promising we'd go to the city the next day to do something other than work. I told him it sounded like the perfect idea.

**A/N: Reviews are appreciated, flames are welcomed but not encouraged. Okay then.**

**~Sidney**


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